Thrifty Recipe: Sundried Tomato Pesto

I was inspired by my friend Badger Girl's blog yesterday. She posted a recipe for Garlic Scape Pesto. It sounded really good. However, I am not a member of a CSA and don't have any fresh-grown garlic scapes. But I did have a half jar of sundried tomatoes and some very healthy basil and oregano plants on my deck.
One trip to Google later, I had my dinner recipe for tonight. Good old Giada to the rescue. I made a half recipe of the below. Served with leftover Papa John's breadsticks and a salad, it was an Italian feast!

Penne with Sundried Tomato Pesto
From Foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

• 12 ounces penne pasta (I used fettucini)
• 1 (8.5-ounce) jar sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Directions

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

Meanwhile, blend the sun-dried tomatoes and their oil, garlic, salt and pepper, to taste, and basil in a food processor and blend until the tomatoes are finely chopped. Transfer the tomato mixture to a large bowl. Stir in the Parmesan.
Add the pasta to the pesto and toss to coat, adding enough reserved cooking liquid to moisten. Season the pasta, to taste, with salt and pepper and serve.